Speech 1

• Topic: From Product to Portfolio: Challenges, Opportunities, and Ethics in Technology-Led Product Development
• Time: October 6, 10:10 ~ 12:00
• Venue: Room 106, 1F, Design Building

Speech 2

• Topic: From Renaissance to Modern and Back Again: Reflections on a Life in Design and the Challenges Ahead
• Time: October 7, 10:10 ~ 12:00
• Venue: Room 603, 6F, Design Building

@About Speaker

Erik Anderson has had a unique career in design, having studied both as an engineer, earning a BSEng at Princeton University in 1984, and as an art historian, completing his PhD at Harvard University, which he began in 1986, only recently, in 2025.

Erik began his product making career in 1989 with Nokia, where he was the inventor and designer of Nokia's original user interface and rose to be head of the GSM 900/1800 mobile phone division. During the 1990s, Erik created the user interfaces, products, and product segmentation strategies which took Nokia to global leadership, growing Nokia's market share from less than 3% in 1989 to over 37% by 2003, a 14-year period of industry dominance.

After his time at Nokia, Erik became a friend of Taiwan, working at Foxconn, and based in Taipei for 4,5 years, before returning to the UK, and to his art historical research. Erik is currently a visiting fellow at the School of Design at Brunel University London.